Huawei investing US$2 billion in India over five years

BANGALORE, 14 DECEMBER 2010 - Huawei Technologies plans to invest US$2 billion in India over five years. The money will go to local manufacturing, research and development (R&D), and other areas.

The Chinese company had orders from Indian telecommunications service providers blocked by the government over security concerns earlier this year. The company however started bagging business from 3G mobile service operators by the middle of the year, after it agreed to new Indian rules on making available when required the equipment source code and designs.

Huawei said on Tuesday that a new R&D center in Bangalore will grow to employ 3,000 engineering staff. The center currently employs 2,000 people, and is the largest center outside China, a company spokesman said. The spokesman did not specify a time frame for filling the additional positions at the center.

The company recently started its first-phase local manufacturing in Chennai in south India, and is exploring other forms of cooperation in local manufacturing, Huawei said.

Huawei India currently has operations in 19 regions of the country and employs over 6000 technical and professional staff across the country.

The company also aims to support local employment and talent development and plans to help bridge the digital divide in the country by supporting rural e-education, it said.

Huawei's announcement of investments in India comes a day before a visit to India by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, which is expected to address areas of commercial cooperation between the two countries. China and India have a long-standing border dispute.